Emerald Gleaner: Spirit of Dissent

by Legionary

Chapter 5: Crossed Wires

Emerald suppressed a sigh and did her best to look like she was paying attention and that her mind wasn't wandering every chance it got.

Currently the virus was in a conference chamber aboard the League Kraken. She was sitting at the head of a long table, sitting in a wheeled chair with legs crossed and hands folded on her lap. She was wearing her formal clothing and forcing herself to maintain a serious expression on her face at all times. Collected together before her was a large menagerie of representatives from carnivore kingdoms; currently they were more concerned with each other than her, but the last thing she wanted was to look like she was drifting off in these talks. Still though, it was incredibly hard to remain focused when negative thoughts and memories plagued her.

“You could forge an Empire in all but name with you as the unquestionable authority...” a memory whispered.

Emerald knew she shouldn't let the words of someone she knew to be manipulative and conniving get to her. She knew she should simply let it wash over her like the words of so many others she considered unimportant. But it was so very hard to do when those words were so true and she had seen what could have been.

'Oskar...' Emerald thought, memories of the broken, half dead, ravaged world that she would have created if it weren't for one decision. The Warlock's words echoed in her mind again and this time she imagined a new scenario, not of her simply gaining more and more authority in politics for the sake of authority, but of doing so for feeling the need to know, to control, to forewarn herself. The way Taleena had described the scenario, they made it out like she would simply grab power for the sake of the glory of it. However, Emerald knew herself. She knew how and why it would go down if she were to actually go down the route of an Empire. And the fact she could easily see how she could end up doing this honestly scared her.

'I'm not like him, I'm not!' Emerald thought as she squashed down her rising turmoil. 'My alternate self was alone. He had no one else but his own mind and it drove him insane in a way far more horrible than any gibbering wreck! But... I could easily go down this route by justifying it with protecting my family... I would hate all the politics, absolutely HATE it, but if it ultimately meant keeping them safe...'

Suddenly Emerald's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of an argument. She looked up to see a Bast representative hissing at a Gnoll towering over them and growling. The virus huffed lightly in irritation before glancing at a diplomat nearest to them.

“Being very disruptive, aren't they?” Emerald questioned subtly, hiding the fact she wasn't paying attention and didn't know why the two representatives were angry with one another.

“Chieftain Sagepaw is being rather direct in accusing the Dynasty of having undue influence, isn't he?” The diplomat replied, a graceful looking Naga with glittering green scales and flowing toga over her torso. “It's most unbecoming, Lady Gleaner.”

“Hmmm... let's not have them give us a show all day, shall we?” Emerald said with a well hidden sigh. “Excuse me, gentlemen!”

It wasn't a particularly loud call, but it still cut through the angry hissing and growling and the two quarreling diplomats looked to her.

“Emerald Gleaner. Tell this buffoon the Dynasty has a fair and just agreement with the Enclave,” the cat said, Emerald noting he was putting forth an effort to tone down the natural imperiousness of his species.

“Cheiften Sagepaw. You have suspicions of the trade deals between the Enclave and the Bast Dynasty?” Emerald questioned serenely, channeling a bit of Celestia's speech patterns.

“No...” the Gnoll Chieften replied, visibly forcing himself to be calm. “I am merely... concerned that the Dynasty's favor of decreased prices will allow them to purchase meat fruit in such quantities they'll drive prices up for the rest of us.”

“A fair concern,” Emerald nodded in agreement before raising a hand reassuringly. “However, one that need not be fretted over. I and my compatriots are fully aware of how vital the meat fruit trade is now. We are steadily increasingly the crops. Meat fruit yields shall always exceed the expected demand. To speak further of the matter, if anyone here wishes to start some statewide event featuring a lot of feasting, feel free to do so. The Enclave's only limit on the meat fruit trade is the shipping fleets to carry product.”

“...Apologies. My concern was unfounded.” Sagepaw nodded, seating himself back down.

“Again, a very understandable concern.” Emerald nodded and then looked over the faces of everyone at the table. Feeling she was about to speak, they give her their undivided attention. “The meat fruit trade is one of absolute importance. No doubt your peoples have a population boom in the works due to the abundance of food after countless generations of rationing. Even now, attempting to return to pre-meat fruit levels of food allocation would be near disastrous for the majority of you.”

Emerald paused to look over everyone. Their expressions were concerned at their growing complete reliance on the Enclave being pointed out. Still though, the greater amount of meat on their bones was sign enough that going back to rationing would not be done willingly if they could help it.

“My people - the people of the Enclave - now have a solemn duty to our fellow carnivores and omnivores of the League,” Emerald stated seriously. “It is now our duty to ensure the food supply of so many great peoples. For the longest time you were all forced to keep the development of your nations to a crawl while the herbivores strode ahead, uncaring of the struggles you faced. But now with the development of the meat fruit, you longer have to focus most of your energies on merely staving off hunger. Now you can focus on more constructive purposes, things only the herbivores could afford to do. The coming decades will be ones of extreme growth as couples experience the freedom of having as many children as they wish.”

“Make no mistake, my dear fellows. The Enclave understands the gravity of failing to keep the food supply going,” Emerald continued and stood up. “We understand that even partial delays would cause great strife, let alone a full stall of the food supply. So we strive to always have a vast surplus of product, to always predict the growth in the market and to always be there when you need us. Know this, my compatriots of the League. Should disaster befall you like it did the Bast, we shall lessen the burden for you as we did for them. This, I pledge my word as leader of my people.”

For a moment there was silence following this proclamation. Then one diplomat started clapping and that was quickly joined in by all the rest. Emerald stood and silently accepted the applause for several moments before bowing her head and sitting back down in her chair.

'… fuck politics,' Emerald thought with an inward sigh as she kept a mask of serenity firmly in place. 'I can't imagine doing this for a thousand fucking years. How does Celestia put up with this crap? I could do this if I had to. I'd really, REALLY hate to, but if I had to, I'd do it. But god damn this is miserable... Hmmm, I think I'll blow off steam tonight with Twilight.'

Now smiling a genuine smile, Emerald settled in place to continue the hours long meeting.

'I hope these maps are accurate,' Twilight thought with a frown as she considered a map of a city.

Currently Twilight Sparkle was at home and in the library with her friends. She was studying a map Zecora had made from memory of the Zebrican capital along with the general assembly complex. It wasn't clear just how accurate it was, since Zecora hadn't been in the capital in years plus the complex was likely greatly altered since the coup. The other mares in the room were going over some information about Zebrica and coming up with plans and ideas for when they went into Zebrica. Everyone knew they wouldn't be helping Emerald subdue the dark force that had possessed the Zebrican Prime Minister and they were fine with it. Their job would be creating havoc in the city and basically being as distracting as possible.

“So how about I just make a SONIC RAINBOOM over the city and-” Rainbow Dash began with eager gesticulation.

“Sugarcube, them Zebras don't have wings.” Applejack pointed out, leaning on the table with her face resting on a hoof. “Ya can't just be flying and making a fancy show.”

“Plus it would possibly attract a bit more attention than we are even planning for,” Rarity added absently as she went over pictures of zebras and studied what they wore.

“Geez, way to be a bunch of spoilsports...” Rainbow Dash huffed and looked away from the others in annoyance.

“Oh don't be that way, darling,” Rarity said with a winning smile as she looked up from her pictures. “You are coming up with ideas and contributing and we've all offered an idea that didn't work when thought about further.”

“... I just don't like the idea of being without my wings,” Rainbow said after a moment, flaring her wings for emphasis.

“Zebras do not have horns either, dear,” Rarity pointed out with a gesture to her horn. “I will be without my magic just as you'll be without your wings.”

“Yeah, okay...” Rainbow nodded before glaring pointedly glaring at Applejack. “What are you giving up?!”

“Oh, uhhh...” Applejack suddenly became shifty eyed as her snout scrunched up.

“Oh don't pick on the poor earth pony, dear.” Rarity said with faux snootiness. “She isn't special enough to have enough to give up.”

“Aight, that's true,” Rainbow nodded seriously.

“Hey!” Applejack frowned at the two before joining them in laughter.

“This is great but to really complete the experience there should be at least six of us!” Pinkie Pie announced with a point at an empty seat.

“Hey, yeah. Where is Fluttershy, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked around with a frown.

Suddenly there was a soft knock at the door and in walked said pegasus.

“Oh, I'm sorry for being late everyone!” Fluttershy said remorsefully as she trotted over to the table they were sitting at.

“It's okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight assured her. “What was keeping you if I may ask?”

“Oh it's just that lately Discord has been disappearing a lot,” Fluttershy replied as she took a seat. “Usually it was only a day or two at a time but this time he's been gone a whole week without a trace. I went looking for him but couldn't find him. I even followed a post pony to his house and found it empty.”

“You worry too much!” Rainbow Dash waved off. “Only one person I know can even hurt Discord and I'm... kinda sure she hasn't done anything to him.”

“Oh dear, oh no...” Fluttershy muttered worriedly as she tapped the tips of her fore hooves together.

“Emerald doesn't like Discord and actively avoids him when she can,” Twilight stated with a slight frown at Dash. “As far as I'm aware the last time Emerald had even said a word to Discord was during the last catastrophe we had to deal with. Fluttershy, whatever has happened I'm sure it's Discord getting distracted by some sort of amusement. He'll be back before you know it.”

“I hope you're right, Twilight,” Fluttershy said with a strained smile. “It's just, I never had him not visit me for so long... well, can someone tell me what have I missed?”

With that the issue with Discord was dropped and the girls brought up several ideas and plans they had come up with to Fluttershy.

Happy Trees was an earth pony mare walking the streets of Canterlot, carrying her foal in a special saddle on her back.

The earth pony mare had a brown coat with her mane and tail colored various shades of green while her eyes were a deep shade of green. On her flank were a trio of evergreen trees wrapped gently in a bright red ribbon tied off in a bow.

'There they are again,' Happy thought as she walked past a large crowd of angry ponies gathered around the entrance to the weather control office. 'I don't mind a bit of unpredictable weather, but even I am finding this really annoying. What's the point of weather control if you can't rely on it to be predictable?'

The lack of predictable weather was really becoming a problem. Several outdoor events planned around the weather schedule had to be called off or rescheduled because instead of a sunny day it had started raining or even storming. Needless to say the average pony on the street found this outrageous and thought the weather teams incompetent. That wasn't to say ponies were furious enough to try lynching the weather teams, but those same teams were finding increasingly hostile attitudes directed towards them whenever they were on the ground.

Happy watched the angry crowd swarming the weather office for a short while until she heard a tiny growl come from her back followed by the sound of something tearing violently. The mare looked over her shoulder fast enough to see a dog's rope toy thrown to the ground in pieces.

“Looks like someone needs a new chew toy,” Happy announced lightly as she poked at the remains of the shredded rope. “Again...”

She looked over her shoulder again, this time at the occupant of the baby harness. Sitting there, gurgling and flapping his little scaly wings was a deinos foal. When she had found out she was pregnant, Happy and her husband had been honestly surprised it was still possible with how different he was from her. Then came the worry. This was a first, and the doctors had no idea how the baby would develop. Her husband had felt oddly confident the baby would be fine, but Happy had been worried about it being malformed or even miscarrying. This worry had carried on for a few months with visits to the doctor practically every other week to check on the fetus' development. It appeared to be developing fine, but the fact no one knew a thing about pregnancies between a pony and thracian still made her worry.

Suddenly Emerald Gleaner came to her home. She asked them a few questions, some of them rather personal and embarrassing to speak about to a stranger but worry made her answer earnestly. After the questions, Emerald had laid a hand upon her belly and after a few moments told them with a smile the baby would be brought to term in perfect health. After that she had no more excuse to worry. If the person capable of bringing back the dead told her, her baby would be fine, then that must be true. Of course she too had no idea what exactly the baby would look like when it was finally born, only that it would be perfectly formed and healthy once it was.

With the knowledge her baby would be fine, Happy Trees was content to leave what the baby would look like a mystery to discover eventually. Happy and her husband had resigned themselves to the idea that no children would result of their marriage when he had been transformed. Of course, any sadness didn't last for long, as her husband had channeled his increased physical capability and even his aggression into... other aspects of their marriage. Suffice to say, if Happy and her husband had been just a stallion and mare couple she would not have been surprised at all to find out she had gotten pregnant.

'Those baby books aren't as much help as I hoped they'd be,' Happy thought as she continued on her way after making sure her baby was fine. 'Then again I suppose it's hard to prepare for a baby who gets her teeth in the day after she is born and is already nearly as strong as you are a few months later. Proper toys are an issue; she seems to be able to chew through anything fragile within a minute. I'd be more worried about choking hazards and poisoning if I hadn't found the coffee table missing a chunk of its top with no wooden pieces to be found. This baby has a stomach like a steel smelter.'

Before much longer Happy and her baby had arrived back at their home, a rather decently sized estate just a block away from the palace itself rather than an apartment. It was a fairly recent development; guards of the Royal Palace were paid very well indeed. Happy walked into her home and then made for the kitchen. After putting her baby in a high chair and getting her another rope toy to chew on, she proceeded to start making supper. She had finished making a salad with a steam cob of corn for everyone when her husband arrived home.

“Honey, I'm home!” her husband announced happily before bounding over and nuzzling her neck affectionately. “How're my lovely girls?”

“I'm fine. She chewed through another rope toy,” Happy replied with a smile.

“Oh I'm sure she’s just hungry,” he replied before darting over to his daughter's side. “Aren't you, my toothy sweet pea?”

“Ba!” the baby gurgled with a gleeful giggle as her dad booped her nose.

Happy giggled before putting down supper for everyone. Her baby and husband had gotten very noticeably larger servings and were chowing down the moment she placed their meals down. Happy began eating her own supper at a much more sedate pace, watching her husband and baby. The mare couldn't help but notice the similarities and differences between them.

Like all Deinos, the father's thracian features looked like they were forcefully mashed together with his original pony parts. Studying them in great detail could be discomforting at times. There were rents in his flesh that glowed brightly, as did both of his eyes. Not only that, but his left eye was noticeably bloodshot. His mane and tail were uncontrollably wild and became bristly the longer they went unwashed, which didn't take long at all really. Some areas of his body had large veins bulging out from beneath his skin and a few patches of his coat were replaced with scales of the same color. The child, however... the child was clearly the same species as her father yet looked so different. She had her mother’s eyes and they only glowed in the dark and were clear and healthy compared to her father. Her mane and tail weren't wild at all and only seemed to become bristly when she became upset. She had glowing lines just like her father, however unlike him they were not glowing rents but stripes that looked like they belonged. She didn't appear to have scales like her father, but the skin under her coat was hard and smooth. Another thing about the child was how much she looked like her father, if she wasn't a filly and had her mane, coat and eyes, Happy would have said her daughter looked exactly like a female version of her father.

Seeing that her family was already halfway done with their own meals, Happy focused on eating her own.

A few blocks away within a large building located in the Changeling District, the elder changelings of the Council stood at the ready before a large chrysalis.

The time had come for Bon Bon to officially assume her place as Queen of the Changeling Hive of Equestria. Normally the process took several months, but the amount of love the changelings were collecting in the heart of Canterlot was immense. With an assured food supply, any excess love was funneled to the metamorphosis of their Queen. Thus a months long process was shortened to just over a week.

There was a wet tearing sound as the chrysalis began to break. Within a few moments, a long, arcing horn pierced the front of the chrysalis, an opening split apart and the newly crowned Queen Bon Bon stepped forth. She looked identical to how she looked before with only a few differences. She was taller, her horn was longer and curved in a slight, graceful arc and was actually noticeably lacking in the characteristic holes changelings had. She had a pair of currently folded, moth-like wings; had they been fully extended their slightly green transparent surface without a single hole would have been clear to see.

“Your Majesty.” The elder changelings kneeled and bowed their heads. “We elders of the Hive are at your disposal.”

“Rise, my council,” Bon Bon commanded with all the solemness and courtly airs expected of a Queen. “You all know me, counselors. Like you, I am a loyal and devoted servant of my people and even now as I lead them into the future, I am still their servant.”

“What is your first command, my Queen?” asked one of the counselors.

“The ponies have taken in our people after great strife and tragedy have lain us low,” Bon Bon began. “But while the time is not yet to reclaim our independence, we can still lay the groundwork for it.”

“We shall be opening dialogues with the Enclave, then?”

“Yes, but not only that.” Bon Bon nodded and then frowned in discontent. “I've heard rumors from the Crystal Empire. It seems our wayward people changed in the same fashion as the Thracian ponies have found a new home in the Enclave...”

“I wish to take the opportunity to reconnect with them,” Bon Bon finished, sweeping her gaze over the gathered Elders who bowed their acquiesce.

A neochangeling by the name of Mindel lay flat against the roof of a fairly large adobe, practically invisible thanks to the combination of his own skills and his cloak.

“Alright everyone, listen up. We've got updates on the situation in Zebrica,” Captain Ace announced over the radios.

Mindel felt the minds of his brothers and sisters perk up. A few felt busy but were quickly moving somewhere quiet to listen in. Captain Ace waited a few minutes for everyone to gather. Once he got the confirmation clicks sounding from every Neochangeling, he continued.

“First things first, let's get the obvious out of the way. Zebrica is increasing its armed forces,” Ace lectured over the radio. “Zebras have been getting rounded up and then shipped out to recently built fortresses dotting the country. Once there, they undergo some kind of process to brainwash them and they come out in full companies of obedient soldiers before marching out to training encampments. It isn't happening with any great speed, but compared to some data we have on proper war build up, this appears to be a steady increase in defensive forces.

“Along with this, Zebrica has essentially become a Police State,” Ace Continued. “The current regime has been watching the populace as carefully as possible whilst also smashing dissent as non-lethally as possible. Thanks to the prevalence of utterly loyal brainwashed soldiers, they've managed this with near absolute success and efficiency. So far the only leads we have on rebel groups are purely rumors of bands hidden in the wilds; no countrywide organization whatsoever. So far even this level of surveillance upon the populace hasn't tripped any of you up. Good work on that front, but stay vigilant. All it takes is one hint they are dealing with near invisible operatives in their country and they'll no doubt start to employ exceedingly effective means of snuffing you out.”

“Next up, Zebrica has some kind of mega construction project under works. This much is obvious,” Ace Stated. “Quarries across the country are working nonstop with professional, penal and even slave labor cutting stone blocks of all sizes and shapes. These blocks get shipped over secure and carefully monitored convoy lines. Convoys of stone gather together in secure encampments as large convoys and shipped to a central encampment in the heart of the country. There they gather in one final huge convoy and ship out one last time. Clearly whatever project is underway is far too large to keep secret so they are simply keeping the construction site extremely secure. Approach so far has been actually rather difficult as you all no doubt know.”

“As one final bit of intel, the prisoner we've captured...” Ace said with a draw of breath. “Whatever magic has controlled his mind is done very well, as the Boss herself has yet to figure out how to break it. However, whatever it is doesn't block out mind reading. We all have the utmost confidence in the Boss' ability to break this spell on her own but it would no doubt be much easier if she had the full notes or at least a very good description of what is going on. Or better yet... whoever presides over the procedure.”

“In light of all this intel, you are being issued priority objectives. Your general information gathering is now secondary,” Ace announced. “Objective Alpha: Infiltrate the construction site, investigate what they are building and then exfiltrate. Optional Objective: Retrieve any pieces of intel from the site and maybe even a VIP if at all possible. If the infiltration of Objective Alpha is not possible, the Silhouette shall attempt a high altitude observation of the site. Hopefully whatever is being done there can't detect us.”

“Next, Objective Beta: Infiltrate the Brainwashing Fortresses,” Ace continued. “Retrieve as much intel on the process as possible before exfiltration. Optional Objectives: Observe the process being carried out, capture and extract whomever is running the process for interrogation.”

“Alright. Do you all understand your mission?” Ace asked and quickly got back a single affirmative click from the operatives. “Good... as a reminder, particularly for Objective Beta. Understand you have to take as little risks as possible to avoid exposure. As such, it's advised you don't try and save anyone from the fortresses... I'll leave you all to divvy out who handles what. Ace, out!”

“Who shall do what?” Vata asked over the feed.

“Objective Beta seems like it doesn't need too many of us working on it,” one of the operatives began. “Vata, you and Cara are nearest to one of the brainwashing forts. The two of you should work together on it.”

“Team of two? Small group, good for staying hidden and a spare pair of eyes to watch my back. I like it,” Vata replied. “What do you think, Cara?”

“I think I better get a move on out of this village and head over your way,” Cara answered.

“Alright, that takes care of Objective Beta. Who is getting assigned to Alpha?” Mindel asked.

“Objective Alpha is definitely bigger, but we shouldn't have too much larger of a team,” an operative replied. “Perhaps just one larger?”

“Tiva and I are the team on site. Mindel, you are the closest,” an operative by the name of Drider said. “You should join us and we can begin trying to infiltrate the site.”

“Sure, I am just currently in a city,” Mindel replied. “Just give me a few hours.”

“Holding till you arrive, Mindel,” Vita stated.

With the team compositions selected, the various Operatives refocused on their jobs. Mindel rose from his spot on the roof of the adobe. This city was one of well over a dozen dotting the country, though this one was more towards the smaller side. It was still important enough to have a solid stone wall, however.

'Right, let's get out of this place,' Mindel thought and began to carefully bound over gaps, making sure no one below would spot him. 'It's a quiet enough place, but that's exactly the problem.'

Within ten minutes Mindel had reached the city walls and leapt over it after waiting for a gap in guard patrols. Once he was outside the city walls he kept low to the ground and quickly gained distance from the city. After making sure he was well out of sight of the city, Mindel took to the skies, flying up to the clouds before flying towards the mission site.

Two hours later, Mindel was diving from the sky head first to the ground of a lush rainforest with thick undergrowth. Before he impacted the ground he shot his wings out again and slowed himself down enough to land without a sound. Mindel then quickly and carefully moved through the undergrowth like a barely there shadow. After another half an hour of crawling through bushes and dodging around wildlife, he finally arrived to a seemingly empty small clearing. That was quickly proved to be not the case when a part of a small boulder lifted up to reveal a hooded head, quickly followed by a chunk of tree bark detaching and seemingly transforming into a cloaked, armored neochangeling.

“Ready to go, Mindel?” Tiva asked.

“Yes we are.” Mindel nodded.

“Good,” Drider stated before speaking into the feed. “Vata, how are things on your end?”

“Already in the fortress,” Vata replied immediately. “Cara and I spotted a line of prison wagons heading to the fort so we decided to hunker down until they get here. Could be a good four or five hours until they arrive.”

“Sneaking about the fort in the middle of the night will only make things easier,” Drider commented before facing his current teammates. “Should we do the same?”

“The foliage is thick.” Mindel shook his head. “Getting into the construction site itself will likely be a different story, but we should be more than fine getting past the security lines.”

“We agree.” Tiva nodded.

“Then let's go,” Drider replied and without another word the trio practically melded into the undergrowth as they began making way.

The first layer of security wasn't too difficult to sneak past. Having so much ground to cover meant there were only a few outposts with patrols on cleared paths through the jungle. The ensuing layers, however, quickly grew in complexity and density. Patrols were in greater numbers, there were more cleared out areas and increasingly permanent looking fortifications. Eventually they reached the last layer of security, a massive palisade.

The trio observed the gate house of the palisade, It was clearly the main entrance and was a scene of near constant activity. Carts filled with cut stone streamed in while empty carts exited. The palisade was large enough to have a catwalk for guards to look over the top along with guards towers. There were, quite plainly, an absurd amount of intensely alert guards. There could be no doubt that with it being day and so little cover thanks to clear cutting that without the aid of the stealth cloaks the operatives would have easily been spotted.

They kept watch for a while, trying to spot a means to sneak past the final line of security without raising some suspicion. The stone blocks in the carts were tightly packed in and thus left little room to hide among them; the guards even made sure to check the bottoms. However, while the guards definitely checked under the carts, they didn't try to pat the underside down. With the stealth cloak, that was opening they needed.

Mindel led the way as they drew back a bit and edged silently along the main road. The road had a large area along the sides cleared of vegetation and there was always at least one patrol in eye sight along a stretch of road. Yet again advanced technology won out, however, as each operative silently and quickly ducked under a separate cart and latched on to the bottom, guards and zebras pulling the carts completely unaware anything was amiss.

“I don't think it would be possible to extract a VIP from the mission site under these conditions,” Tiva commented. “It's one thing to for us to sneak in. We are practically invisible, but it'll be entirely another thing to drag along a completely visible zebra.”

“True,” Drider responded. “Do you think we could manage it if we had a spare stealth cloak?”

“I think so, yet at the same time I really don't like the idea of trying to silently wrestle dead weight around,” Tiva replied. “I think it's best we consider extracting a VIP impossible as is and focus on what we can do.”

“I agree, but we don't even know what we will be capable of doing on the other side of the palisade, or even what kind of construction we are dealing with,” Mindel stated. “It will be very irritating if it's some kind of wide open flat disc with even more guards than there are now.”

“I think there would actually be less guards on the site itself,” Drider commented. “With so many layers of security around the site, there might be only enough guards to keep watch on the workers. After all, there are precious few beings I could think of who can get into here without raising some kind of alarm.”

“I guess we'll find out soon enough,” Tiva said as their carts approached the gate house. “Best of luck, everyone.”

Despite the absolute faith in their gear and skills, it was still an incredibly tense situation to be in as the carts came to a stop before the gatehouse. As usual the guards quickly swept over the contents of the cart before giving their thorough search ending with a look under the cart. This moment was the most stressful. The operatives knew their cloaks were practically perfect and they themselves were currently still as stone and not breathing, but it wasn't much in the way of assurance in the face of the scanning eyes of the zebrican guards.

In the end, however, the operatives were not discovered and their carts were allowed through the gatehouse. The operatives waited until their carts came to a stop before carefully crawling out from under them. They were currently in a yard full of activity, pulley operated cranes looming overhead as zebrican laborers busied themselves with unloading tons of cut stone.

Once more this was a situation that would have been impossible to sneak through had the neochangelings not had the advantage of their cloaks. As it was, they had to move carefully through the yard and avoid bumping into anyone. The three made way for a watch tower, darting across dirt packed tightly by the constant passage of zebras and heavy loads. They clambered up the sides of the towers instead of the ladder and silently ascended to the roof of the tower, avoiding the interior occupied by a guard. Once on top, they took in their surroundings.

The palisade encircled an area that was at least ten miles in diameter. Most of the space was taken up by a great number of shacks clearly meant to house the laborers with a few, far more sturdier stone fortifications. In the very center was a great bowl indention dug into the earth and occupying this was a great stone satellite dish-like construction with a maze like collection of walls upon its surface.

“What do you think it is?” Tiva asked.

“Whatever it is, I don't think it's anywhere close to being finished,” Drider replied and then adjusted the magnification of his visor. “Yeah, I see a ton of scaffolding and a constant flow of materials into it. Whatever it is, I think they've only just finished building the foundation.”

“Best way to find that out for sure is to find the plans for this thing,” Mindel said and looked around the area again. “Hopefully we can find some blueprints stored in one of those little forts.”

“Split up and go at multiple targets at once?” Tiva suggested.

“Yeah, let's do this,” Mindel said and without another word the three parted.

Mindel made his way through shacks, sticking to the shadows and staying low to the ground. Now that he was closer it was easier to see the dilapidated nature of the shacks, the worn down and perpetually exhausted expressions of those who lived within them. How no one had anything better to eat than gathered grass. It honestly hurt to just ignore this and focus on the mission, but Mindel reminded himself that if he and his fellows did their jobs they would help everyone. Not just the people, but the brainwashed soldiers as well.

Eventually Mindel arrived to one of the small forts dotting the outskirts of the construction. Really the only thing about them that made them forts was the fact they were made of stone and had a very solid and secure front door. Otherwise they would have been just decently big stone brick homes. The fort Mindel was targeting had a pair of oak double doors with two guards standing at attention beside it. It did have windows, however they were thin slots with bars in them. The only entrance was the main doors which, even for Mindel, was a bit of a problem.

'Hmm... suppose I just wait until someone either enters or leaves and hope they don't slam the door shut as soon as they are clear,' Mindel thought with a frown before quietly latching onto the side of the building and then settled in to wait for an opening.

It was nearly half an hour later before an opportunity presented itself. Mindel watched silently as a zebra wearing a gilded version of the masks the guards were wearing approached with a guard in tow. As the two approached, the guards at the door moved as one to open the doors to the building. Seeing this, Mindel moved as silently and as quickly as possible through the door.

The room that met Mindel's sight as he scuttled across the ceiling was a completely utilitarian lobby with two more guards standing at attention and facing each other from opposite sides of the room. The Operative silently moved onto the floor as the doors closed behind the official and his escort. Mindel watched him pass through the room in the silence typical of the brainwashed and then began to follow them at a slight distance.

A minute later after following the two down a poorly lit bare hallway, Mindel found himself led to a brightly lit room lined with shelves and a large table dominating the center. The shelves on the walls were filled with many dozens of scrolls and other then a few torches, the room also had three small window slits.

Mindel slipped into a dark corner of the room as the guard took up position at the door and the official walked over to one of the shelves. He watched as the official grabbed one long, fairly large scroll and brought it over to the table and unrolled it. Craning his head, Mindel saw it was a kind of blueprints for the construction.

For the next hour Mindel watched in silence as the official consulted the rolled out scroll and began writing down a report of some kind in a much smaller scroll. When the official was done writing his report, he placed the blueprint back on the shelf and placed the report scroll in a special carrier tube. When the zebra and his guard left, Mindel remained still in his corner, waiting until he heard the two leave the building and then waited a minute longer. Just as he was about to get up and approach the shelves, something unexpected happen.

One of the pieces of stone that made up the flagstone floor began to wiggle in place before slowly lifting up. The flagstone shifted aside on its own and revealed the bare packed earth beneath which also shifted on its own to form a hole. A monkey nearly completely covered head to toe in a black sneak suit slowly emerged from the newly formed hole in the floor.

The operative watched silently as the monkey darted over to the shelves and began to search through them for a specific one. After finding the one, he brought it over to the table and placed it down. He then pulled out a piece of long charcoal and very quickly but skillfully drew over the blueprint. It only took the monkey a few minutes to fully trace the complex blueprint before he brought out a large piece of paper and covered the blueprint with it. With that the monkey waved his hand and pulled back the paper, revealing that the charcoal had fully transferred onto the paper from the blueprint.

The monkey quickly and silently rolled the scroll back up and placed it back on the shelf before diving back into the hole in the floor. The hole remained exposed for only a moment before the packed earth refilled the hole and the flagstone slid back into place.

Mindel tilted his head curiously as he rose from his spot in the corner and walked over to the shelf and collected the scroll the monkey had just been tracing. Taking it over to the table, he unrolled it and studied it. Mindel was no architect by any means but from what he could see the blueprint was a simple birds eye of the construction and the site around. However, there were these strange paths on the blueprints leading to the construction. Examining the writing clarified that these paths were leylines. Mindel then recalled that the Enclave drew a massive amount of raw magical power from a leyline nexus.

'This can't be good,' Mindel thought and triggered the picture taking function of his helmet. Mindel then looked over the many, many scrolls on the shelves around him. He rolled the scroll back up and replaced it before taking another to take a picture of its contents as well.

'Definitely going to be here a while,' Mindel thought as he unrolled that scroll and took another picture. 'Going to be tricky getting back out of here. Probably just going to have to wait for another person to come in and slip out then. Hope Vata and Cara's mission are going just as well.'

With that Mindel focused on copying the scrolls while also keeping an ear out for anyone approaching.

Vata watched as the last slivers of the sun fully sank past the horizon.

He and his partner Cara were at a fairly large fortress in the middle of a great Savannah. It was a large thing, ugly in its plainness. It had two sets of walls, the outer curtain was smaller and shorter while the inner curtain was thick and loomed over them. A large blocky keep dominated the very heart of the fortress. Vata and Cara were situated upon one of the large inner curtain towers, standing upon the conical roof.

“They've finally arrived just as the sun set,” Vata commented as he watched a number of prison carriages arrive at the gatehouse. “Very timely.”

“Makes our job easier,” Cara said. “Even these mind controlled soldiers still need to sleep. Won't have to worry too much about running into people in the close confines of these halls.”

Vata and Cara watched as the prison carriages passed through the outer and inner gatehouses before entering the main courtyard. Soldiers gathered in hundreds around these carriages and forced the zebras within out into the open. Captive zebra mares and stallions in equal numbers huddled together in groups in fearful silence. Once the prisoners were all unloaded, the group of a hundred captives was marched into the keep.

After seeing this the two operatives quickly descended down the side of their tower and darted across the courtyard. The windows of the keep near the ground were narrow slits but those much higher up were much bigger. The duo quickly scaled the side of the castle before slipping through a window near the top. The interior was barren and poorly lit by torches. The duo were currently in a storage room housing barrels upon barrels of arrows and throwing spears. They quickly made their way into a hallway to seek out the destination of the prisoners, and after several minutes of passing through poorly lit halls and silent guards, they found it.

It was a chamber that sat at the heart of the keep, where the meeting hall would have been. The room was large enough for several hundred people to idle in comfortably and went up three floors. In the center was a great, ten-sided black obelisk stretching up to the ceiling surrounded by stone slab beds facing each of the sides. Balconies lined the chamber on the upper floor and below ninety zebrican prisoners were crammed into a cage just big enough to house them to the side in an alcove. The ten zebras not in the cage were now in the process of being strapped onto the stone slabs.

Vata and Cara watched in silence as the guards finished strapping in the prisoners. Then another masked zebra wearing rich silken robes and a heavily decorated mask of silver and gold gilding and wielding a staff topped with a green ethereal gem approached. He came to a stop before the obelisk and then held his staff up into the air before bringing it down onto the floor. A sound issued forth like that of a distant explosion and the obelisk lit up in zebrican script. A poisonous green magical aura formed and flowed around the obelisk like churning storm clouds. A ball of light started rapidly forming at the very top of the obelisk. Beams of light suddenly shot forth from the ball, impacting the heads of the restrained zebras. The restrained zebras, once before they had been struggling weakly against their steel chains now remained still, their fearful expressions becoming like that of a stoic statue. After a few moments of this the light abated and the magical aura died down around the obelisk.

The operatives watched as the captive zebras were quickly released from their bindings after which they silently lined up to the side where another guard placed a mask on each of their heads. The brainwashing process continued another nine times and was completed within an hour. A group of newly brainwashed zebrican soldiers stood in a neat block of ten by ten where the gilded masked zebra examined them before waving them off. With that the new additions to the zebrican army marched out of the chamber in a line and the masked zebra deactivated the obelisk with another thunderous tap of his staff.

“Him,” Vata said as he and Cara watched the masked zebra leave. “I want to extract him.”

“How should we go about it?” Cara asked. “I don't think we can get away with faking another lion attack.”

“Even if we could I don't like the idea of doing that again.” Vata shook his head. “Hmm... perhaps we can fake his death in another way?”

“What's your plan?”

“One moment, I need to clarify something with Wheatley,” Vata said and tuned his radio to a specific channel. “Operative Vata to Wheatley, come in.”

“Hullo, Wheatley here!” came the AI's cheerful voice. “How can I help ya, mate?”

“I was wondering if the machine that create meat on the Silhouette can manufacture bones along with the meat?” Vata asked.

“Yes, surprising how many people requested we developed a meat fruit that included various types of bones in them,” Wheatley replied. “Let me guess, need a very realistic dummy?”

“Exactly that. I need to fake the death of a VIP I want to extract,” Vata confirmed.

“Aiming high, eh? Good show!” Wheatley said. “I'll pass on the word to Ace and he'll float on by to make a stealth drop and await extraction.”

“Right. Vata out,” Vata said and turned off the radio.

“You should track down our target's room,” Cara said. “I'll head up and await the fake body on the roof.”

“I'll let you know when I've got him secure.” Vata nodded and the two separated.

Vata slipped down to the ground floor and quickly darted through the door he saw the gilded masked zebra walk through. He briefly regretted not immediately chasing after them, finding himself at a crossroads with no clear idea of where his target had gone. However, he also couldn't have gone ahead without coming up with a plan of getting him out without too much suspicion. Vata focused and thought for a moment before switching his suit's sonar on.

The operative's vision went completely black for a moment before the on board computer rapidly processed incoming echoes to form a comprehensible image for him. The blackness filled with white lines and somewhat blurry ghost images. Vata swiveled his head for a few moments, taking in dozens upon dozens of zebrican soldiers through the walls before spotting a specific one that had a long, staff-like shape next to him. Vata saw that he was ascending a staircase and quickly made way to get to said staircase before he reached his floor. Thankfully it only took a quick dash down a hallway to find a doorway leading to one.

Less then a minute later, Vata had already caught up and was in the process of silently trailing his target. While it likely would have been easy to simply knock the zebra out here and now, the goal was to try to cover up his sudden disappearance. If he did go through with that, it was likely that no one would immediately rush to the conclusion that invisible spies were to blame. It would still be quite suspicious, however, and raise alertness across the country. It was simply better in the long term to fake this zebra's death, no matter how much it complicated the mission.

Before much longer the robed zebra arrived on a floor that actually had a carpets placed down on top of hardwood flooring. Although the carpets in question were hardly examples of luxury, looking more like they were grabbed by the cart full from some thrift store. Still, with the way the brainwashed zebras behaved, any kind of lavishness was something to take note of. After another few moments the robed zebra turned down a hall that lead to a door with a pair of soldiers standing at guard outside.

Vata narrowed his eyes. He got the feeling that wasn't going to get in without getting caught by the door if he stuck close to the masked zebra's back. Running ahead, Vata quickly scaled the wall and latched onto the ceiling before crawling silently towards the top of the door frame. The gilded masked zebra approached and one of the guards reached out and opened the door for him. Vata took to opportunity to quickly scuttle through before his target even neared the doorway.

Once in the room, Vata took up position in a darkened corner before taking in his surroundings. As it turns out, pretty much the only sign of luxury that was afforded to the robed zebra was his gilded mask and his silk robes. His room was lit by torches and candles, one wall had a large case along it with diamond shaped cells to hold scrolls which had well over a hundred just by the look of it. He had a bed that was barely larger than a twin size with a stiff looking mattress and pillow with a thin sheet of a blanket. His floor was the same hardwood as in the hall with a single small carpet on one side of the bed. The only other furniture in the room was a writing desk set before a window and a chair with parchment, inkwell and quill at the ready.

The operative watched as the robed zebra fully entered the room and closed the door behind him. Vata took note of the visible locking mechanism on this side of the door. The robed zebra then walked over to his bed and carefully leaned his staff against the wall before walking over to the desk where he sat down and immediately got to writing. Vata carefully walked over silently to observe what the zebra was working on. From the looks of things it would be shaping up to be little more than a run of the mil report of the day's events.

“Vata, the Silhouette has arrived and is dropping the package now,” Vata heard over the feed. Looking out the window he noticed a thick fog had suddenly rolled in. “Thankfully there are no guards atop the keep roof currently, otherwise I'd be playing a high stakes game of red light green light over here. Can you give me the location of the VIP's room?”

“Yeah, give me a moment. I just need to secure him and the room,” Vata responded and reached out with his forelimbs.

One limb wrapped around the zebra's neck with crushing pressure while the other wrapped around the chest and placed the hoof at his side. Two things happened at the same time: the zebra jolted and gave a barely audible gurgle of surprise and a small needle extended out from the limb wrapped around his chest, stabbing deep and injecting a special chemical. Within another second the zebra went limp and Vata laid him carefully onto the floor. The operative then quickly walked back to the door and locked it before walking back towards the window.

“Right. From the look of things I am on the top floor and on the west side,” Vata said. “Be warned that the front door is guarded quite closely by a pair of guards. I think the only way you can get in here is through the window.”

“Damn it... trying to keep this ghastly thing covered and wall crawling is going to be a massive pain,” Cara sighed. “Okay, open the window up and give me a minute. I need to time this carefully if I want to get in unnoticed.”

Vata quickly pushed the window shutters fully open and backed away. Honestly, the chances of Cara getting spotted were very slim with the heavy fog out. However, the ultimate goal was to depose the Prime Minister without getting discovered, and maintaining secrecy wasn't going to happen if unnecessary risks were taken all the time.

After a few moments a black shape suddenly darted into view of the window and swung into the room. Vata watched as Cara's cloak returned to its inactive state and his fellow operative dropped her burden to the ground. Cara had been very right when she described the dummy body as ghastly. It had the recognizable equine shape, but that was it. It had no coat and no mane or long tail or even a pair of eyes. Ultimately, the thing looked like a skeleton wrapped in meat.

“Ghastly...” Vata commented before hoisting the thing onto his back and carrying it over to the bed.

“Don't I know it,” Cara replied and stepped beside their intended target lying unconscious on the floor. “Right, what's the plan?”

“You take the VIP up to the roof while I stay here and fake his death with an accidental fire,” Vata said as he pulled the covers off the bed and began positioning the body like it fell out of the bed head first. “I”m going to need to stay here for a bit and ensure the damage is enough they won't recognize this body didn't belong to a zebra. Once I'm sure of that I'll head up to the roof as well and we'll extract via the Silhouette.”

“Will the door stand up to attempts to bash it down?” Cara asked and the both of them took a moment to stare at the door wonderingly.

“The door and lock look like the few things they didn't skimp on in this room,” Vata eventually answered as he removed the mask from the zebra and placed it on the dummy. “It should stay up long enough for the fire to do its job.”

“Give me a minute after I leave before you start the fire,” Cara said as she wrapped a limb around the comatose zebra and looked out the window carefully. After a few moments of observing the world outside, she suddenly leaped through the window and started rapidly scrambling up the wall.

Vata took position beside a tall candle stand beside the bed and mentally counted down a minute. Once the countdown reached zero, he then simply pushed the stand over towards the bed. A few of the candles simply went out but others immediately started smoldering and in the dry blankets of the bed. Within a few moments flames were quickly growing and started to blacken the flesh of the dummy.

As guards shouted and began to pound on the door, Vata encouraged the flames to grow as much as he dared without making it look artificial. Before long the flames were definitely growing and were spreading to the floor and other parts of the room. If it weren't for Vata's armor, he’d definitely be alight along with the charred black body on the bed.

'That's good enough I think,' Vata thought with a nod and quickly leapt out the window.

Along with the fog there was quite a bit of smoke. Even without the cloak, Vata's form on the wall would have been impossible to see through all the billowing smoke. The Operative quickly climbed the side of the castle and within a moment was on the roof.

Cara's invisible form sat in the center of the roof, her cloak draped over the VIP to keep him perfectly hidden. Vata joined her and after a moment a harness attached to a long cable descended from the fog filled sky. They quickly strapped in the VIP and then hopped atop of him, leaving only the cable visible. With a sudden jerk, the three quickly shot up into the sky.

Within a few minutes the freak fog started to clear up and left a clear night sky marred only by a rising column of smoke.

“So you see we simply can't keep up with things the way that they are,” said a diamond dog with an oil stained fur coat, goggles sitting atop his head and tough leather vest festooned with tools.

“And clearly that's where I come in,” Wheatley said, his eye on the large computer screen bobbing up and down in a nodding motion.

A large group of diamond dog engineers were gathered together in a well used workshop located just off “Old Town” of the Hub. Tools lay strewn across table tops, a portion of the shop was designated as a garage and a number of different kinds of buggies were in different states of construction. All the engineers had cleared off one of the larger tables and were sitting at it with Wheatley's screen looming overhead. These dogs had gathered together to meet with Wheatley to get his help to remain technologically relevant. They sought Wheatley's aid because he had said himself that he had Emerald's technical knowledge at his own disposal. So while they didn't want to trouble Emerald to help them keep up with her, they could ask Wheatley for his help.

“Do you have any idea of how we can stay relevant?” a golden retriever diamond dog, Missy, asked.

“Making better alloys and more powerful machines is a way, but a very slow one...” Wheatley hummed for a moment when a light bulb appeared on his screen with a ding. “Ah! Emerald's biotech wouldn't be even half as good as it is without the use of magic. We shall use magic as well to amplify our machines and steel.”

“Would that be possible for us?” asked another engineer, exchanging a look with the others. “Diamond dog magic is very different from unicorn magic.”

“True, but we have a ready made work around,” Wheatley said and his eye was replaced with the image a can of paint. “If you'll recall the runic paint...”

“Of course!” Missy said, thumping her fists on the table. “None of the hundreds of weapons we make a day need a unicorn to place their magic effects. It's all automatically applied runic circuits. By that logic, we just need to further understand the programming language of magic to make our own effects.”

“That's exactly the thing, luv,” Wheatley said cheerfully. “Right'o, here's the plan! I'll put together a quick project that can be built in a few hours with all of you working together. It'll involve a number of basic runic effects just to get your paws wet. By the end of it you all should have the beginnings of a solid foundation in runic arrays.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s get to it,” said the first engineer and Wheatley started to display some blueprints and a number of runic arrays.

“That looks vaguely like the skeleton of a wolf...” one of the engineers commented. “Only definitely bigger. That looks like it's as tall as Pad Foot is currently.”

“A lot of that steel is using some mass production parts, but there is still some things we are going to have to form ourselves,” commented another. “Let's fire up the forges. This is going to take some effort.”

What followed next was near on five hours of constant work. Putting together the main body and limbs of the “skeleton” was easy enough and barely took half an hour with all of them working together. Then came the hard parts; putting together the machinery, the engine and power block, the hydraulics and pistons and then was creating the custom parts from scratch. And alongside all of this, a number of them were working together to study several runic arrays and carefully painting them on specific areas of the “skeleton”. And at the end of this five hours, the engineers all gathered together around their creation.

The “skeleton” was much like that of an animatronic's endoskeleton with all its exposed mechanical workings. Where the rib cage would have been was the machine's engine and magical power core. Along with that, several large tubes ran along the limbs of the machine like arteries, gathering together in a central “heart”. Its head was a large blocky thing that bore little resemblance to a canine, looking more like a bear trap with two great slabs of steel attached to the top and bottom.

“Oh, he looks beastly!” Missy exclaimed and then huffed. “Wish it was able to actually use those chompers, though.”

“Just getting it to move around will be accomplishment enough for a few hours work,” replied another engineer. “...That's if it works in the first place.”

“You all followed my blueprints to the letter. It'll work!” Wheatley assured. “Now just switch the pup on and watch him go.”

“Alright, moment of truth,” Missy commented and stepped forward. She reached out towards the mechanical hound's engine block and pressed its ignition switch. They listened with some stress as the engine coughed and sputtered for a few moments before it suddenly roared to life. The dogs then watched with bated breath as the metal hound took half stumbling steps as it walked forward, its steps clanking loudly. Then after walking forward a few steps, it turned in place and returned to the spot it started in.

Wheatley smiled, or rather his eye glowed brighter as the dogs he instructed cheered the success. It was a pretty big first step all things considered, and he was glad to have played a big part in it.

He could barely wait to see what the engineers of the Enclave would come up with on their own.

With a flash of light, Emerald in her formal attire appeared upon the train station platforms just outside the Grand Monastery of the Channelers.

It had been barely a full day since the rather successful operations carried out by the neochangelings in Zebrica, but Emerald had been taking advantage of every spare possible moment. She had already scoured the minds of the latest captive for all his knowledge, the result of which was understanding of the technique that was being used to brainwash zebras. Full understanding of this knowledge allowed Emerald to figure out how to reverse it within the hour, and already both captive zebras had been freed from their brainwashing and were currently being attended to by Zecora in a secure location in the Enclave.

As for right now, Emerald was intending to address the other thing the neochanglings had discovered; namely the fact there was an earth channler doing spy work in Zebrica. After the massive favor they had done her last time by entrusting her with their knowledge, Emerald was willing to go out on a limb and try to work together.

Emerald walked forward to the main entrance of the monastery, ignoring the gawkers she was getting. The main lobby looked the same as it did the last time she was here, the only difference being the amount of attention she getting compared to last time. After a few moments of standing in place and looking impatient, a young heron wearing a haori emblazoned with the symbol for fire approached her.

“Princess Gleaner of the Enclave, may I be of some assistance?” he asked.

“I need to speak on a matter of grave importance,” Emerald began. “Would Master Gyatso be available?”

“I... believe so,” the heron answered with a thoughtful hum. “The last I heard he had just returned from a training trip with his apprentice. If you would await in the hall, I shall go see if I can quickly locate him for you.”

“That would be good, thank you,” Emerald replied and the heron bowed briefly before taking flight towards one of the many halls connecting to the lobby.

Emerald took a look around, noticing she had quite a few gawkers now. She reached out with her senses, her hearing picking out their muttering about how she was gifted knowledge. Her changeling senses picked up a great number of emotions; jealousy, awe and fear just to name the most prominent. Altogether, even in a crowd of mystically skilled beings she didn't really feel anything to be worried for, only irritation at the attention.

The virus decided to walk towards the great statues of the four spirit types and take a seat at one of the comfy benches facing them. She sat down on the bench and stared up at the statues for a moment before taking a breath and closing her eyes. She began drawing on her knowledge of channeler meditation techniques. Emerald could have easily spent the time waiting for someone to meet with her doing something productive, such as thinking on upcoming meetings, how she was only just caught up with her political obligations, magical research and development of new technology or directing the growth of the Enclave. But honestly, she really didn't want to. She might work a whole lot but she didn't enjoy it and did it as much as she did because she felt compelled to do so for her own sake and the sake of others she cared for.

So for once, Emerald took the opportunity to do a most blessed act: nothing.

With her meditation placing her focus purely on the cleared blankness of her mind, Emerald didn't know how long she sat in the bench; it could have been minutes, or it could have been well over an hour. In any case, when she interrupted from her meditation she had honestly found the interruption far too soon.

“Emerald, it has been quite a while hasn't it?” Emerald heard Gyatso's voice and opened her eyes to see him and Swift Gale standing in front of her.

“Yes it has, Gyatso.” Emerald smiled, though noting that Swift looked quite angry for some reason. “I trust things have been going well for the Republic?”

“Yes, although the oddest weather has been plaguing us lat-” Gyatso began when he was interrupted.

“You freakin cheater!” Swift exclaimed angrily and slugged Emerald in the shoulder with a hoof.

“Excuse me?” Emerald said, more confused than anything by the sudden strike.

“Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!” Swift said, completely ignoring the gasping and loudly muttering crowd around them. “I spend years training in channeling to get where I am now, a decade of my whole life dedicated to my sword and my wind and you just get given centuries worth of channeling mastery in all the fields in a single day?!”

“...Sorry?” Emerald offered, then shrugged when Swift only looked more angry.

“Perhaps now is not the best time for such discussion,” Gyatso said, placing a wing over Swift Gale's shoulders before looking to Emerald. “I am aware that you are quite busy nowadays. Shall we talk in a more private setting?”

“Yes, I'd like that very much,” Emerald replied and stood up.

“Very well.” Gyatso nodded before looking at his protege. “Swift, go calm yourself. Perhaps do some physically intensive training or see if a few of your friends are currently in.”

“...fine. Sure thing, Master. I'll get right to it,” Swift Gale said with huff and began to walk away, though not before pointing dramatically at Emerald in a way that clearly said 'Next time'.

“Am I going to have to worry about her?” Emerald asked unconcernedly.

“Swift Gale is the competitive sort,” Gyatso stated as he began to lead Emerald away. “If anything, this will give her quite a bit of drive to improve... although the cheating will likely make her sour company for your time here.”

“Noted.” Emerald nodded as she followed Gyatso.

Gyatso led Emerald down several halls and up a few staircases. Eventually the crowds began to thin and fade the deeper into massive monastery they went. Eventually they came to one of the rarely traveled section of the monastery. Aged stonework went uncovered by modern decorative design, dust covered the floor and cobwebs crowded the corners. Finally, Gyatso led Emerald onto a landing facing the open air and overlooking the valley the monastery sat in.

“Ah, it is a view I pray I never tire of,” Gyatso said softly as he took in the sight.

“Great view, fresh mountain air, people with common interests. What’s not to like?” Emerald stated and Gyatso nodded in agreement.

Emerald glanced at Gyatso from the corner of her eye. She had sought out Gyatso because he was the only channeler she somewhat personally knew and had been the one to deliver her to the Old Masters. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure if he would have been in the know regarding foreign espionage.

'Should I try being subtle and hint at the situation in Zebrica?' Emerald thought for a long moment before frowning. '...No, screw it. If he isn't in the know of the spying in Zebrica then he either isn't in the know or someone other then the channelers is spying. Either way, I'm sure Gyatso knows how to keep a secret.'

“I have spies in Zebrica,” Emerald said bluntly, looking directly at Gyatso with arms crossed.

“O-oh!” Gyatso blinked in surprise. “That is very... forthright of you. I suppose you are admitting this because you are also concerned of the situation there and perhaps have stumbled upon one of our own?”

“Yes,” Emerald said simply, not bothering to hide her sigh of relief. “A friend of mine actually made me aware there was something more to Zebrica than garden variety tyranny. So far I've managed to find out how to undo the brainwashing and that there is some massive project underway. I don't know exactly what, but the photos of the plans clearly state it’s a structure meant to harness the natural energies of the ley line network in Zebrica and the surrounding regions. I don't know what the intent of this project is, but the amount of energy it has at its disposal... it can't be anything good.”

“We are in agreement, then.” Gyatso nodded. “The Channelers felt there was a great disturbance underway in Zebrica. The Old Masters told us of a darkness that has made the country its lair. We've been slowly infiltrating the land ourselves, carefully placing agents and observing events. Whatever is in control of the country is frighteningly intelligent and incredibly skilled in magical matters. Despite this, we have managed to fully map the congressional buildings it has made into its personal palace.”

“We've only been in Zebrica a short while compared to your years,” Emerald said. “I would be incredibly appreciative if we could combine our findings and resources. I want to end this whole thing as quickly and stealthily as possible.”

“I speak for the Channelers when I say we'd be happy to,” Gyatso said with smile before frowning and shaking his head. “Alas, I'm afraid in this situation only one of the two can be accomplished. Our channelers have only remained unseen so far due to great care and willingness to carefully survey our every step forward.”

“Maybe, but my own agents have quite a few skills and effective tools at their disposal,” Emerald said confidently. “I'm not saying we aren't careful, but a lot of things aren't inherently risky for us.”

“It is not my place to advise you on your actions, but please be careful. The Old Masters feel greatly that the foe we are dealing with is not to be underestimated,” Gyatso beseeched before taking a breath and then waving a wing towards the interior of the monastery. “But please, let's continue this conversation another time. The Old Masters have been waiting for an opportunity to contact you about the tapestry of fate.”

“Is it something dangerous?” Emerald asked and followed Gyatso as he began to lead the way again.

“They aren't sure,” Gyatso answered. “Your fate is harder to read and seems to grow almost intangible at times. They hope that you being there personally will be enough to add some clarity.”

The two traveled for some time through the monastery and before long Emerald once more found herself before the great doors of the Hall of the Old Masters. This time when the doors swung open, Gyatso entered with her. The hall was the same as the last time she had been here; an extremely tall chamber with hundreds upon hundreds of statues depicting former grand masters of the Channelers. Sitting facing each other in a circle was the current council of grand masters. They seemed to be deep in meditation, a stick of incense mostly burned away sat before each one.

“The grand masters are currently in commune with the old masters,” Gyatso explained. “The old masters are gathered before the tapestry at this very moment. You only need to join the grand masters in meditation to make the journey there yourself.”

“Alright.” Emerald nodded and then walked over to an empty space between one of the grand masters and sat down in a crossed legged position. She quickly conjured up a stick of incense of her own before drawing a deep breath and instantly falling into meditation,

An instant later Emerald opened her eyes and found herself in a completely different place.

The “ground” was an utterly black void while the horizon and sky was a swirling nebula of dark colors. She wasn't alone, either. Thousands of people were there, species of all kinds wearing Channeler robes and ghostly in appearance. The old masters seemed to be all staring in the same direction and only now Emerald noticed a light like a blinding star shining in the distance. Even for her the light should have been blinding and yet she felt no strain on her eyes attempting to adapt and no one else seemed to be suffering worse for wear either.

Emerald moved forward. She walked past many ghostly apparitions of the old masters and closed in on the blinding star. Before long she was brushing past a line of ghosts circling around the star. The old masters were gathered in a mass around the star but kept some distance from it. When the virus broke the line she saw the star fully instead of just its light. It was seemingly a small thing, no larger than a grape and floated midair at about shoulder height. Emerald took one last look to the silent crowd and then closed on the blinding star. As she reached out to touch it, she thought of how she expected the tapestry of fate to be a bit more then this.

Before she could touch the star, however, it exploded into flashes of light and all seemed to fade from Emerald’s vision. The colorful sky, the ghostly old masters, all that remained was the explosions of pure light around her. Suddenly there was a sound like the rapid unraveling of a great rope and Emerald turned to see... strings.

Strings of light rushed past her in countless numbers, interwoven, tangling and pulling apart all at the same time. The threads rushed past her like waves the size of mountains as Emerald seemed to fall through a vast tunnel made of these golden glowing strings. After a few moments of falling down the tunnel of string at incredible speeds, Emerald saw a great blackness appear. It seemed like the tunnel was nearing its end.

As the end approached, Emerald noticed she was beginning to slow as well. The closer to the end, the slower she went. Taking the opportunity to look around, Emerald stared at the passing threads and focused her gaze on one in particular. The moment she did, however, she felt a great pull and-

“I can't believe Time Turner proposed to me!” Rose Locks said happily to her friends. “This is just- WOW! I feel so happy!”

“Who do you have in mind for bridesmaid?” Bon Bon asked.

“Oh, I don't know?!” Rose Locks exclaimed excitedly. “We haven't even agreed on a date yet!”

“Well... how about the mare that introduced you to him in the first-”

Emerald shook her head as she ripped her gaze away from the thread. That was incredibly intense, just as much as absorbing an emotionally powerful memory into herself. And that comparison alone made her really not want to repeat that again until she realized that there was one more thread, one exactly beside her.

Unlike Rose Locks' thread of fate, this one didn't pull her into it when she stared at it. It didn't even do that when she touched it and watched as it passed through her hand as she continued to fall upwards. However, somehow deep within her, Emerald knew that this thread in particular belonged to her. She looked up again at the approaching darkness and this time realized that what she was approaching wasn't darkness at all... it was smoke.

Looking at the masses of golden threads bordering the smoke, Emerald saw that they were fraying and smoldering, ending abruptly in glowing embers. Within a few moments she was slowly approaching the wall of smoke and soon began to pass through it as she fell without control. It wasn't a very thick layer and in a moment she was on the other side.

Emerald found herself in an endless gray haze. Below her lied an endless plane of black, oily smoke. Ash and faintly glowing cinders filled the air and stretched out into infinity. Soon she found herself sinking back down into the smoke and began to bob in it for a moment before sinking down past the layer again.

Back in the tunnel of threads, Emerald looked around and found that the thread she knew to be hers was once more right next to her. She touched it again and this time felt it thrum with energy. A rush of images flew past her eyes, blurry and imperceptible as the thread moved on its own through her hand. Suddenly the thread began to slow every now and then and the images became clear for a moment.

… Her and Twilight joining together in marriage, then later her own eyes widening in astounded surprise...

… She was standing in a swirling cloud of darkness, hands clapped over her ears and eyes tightly closed. A pair of slitted green eyes looming overhead....

… Creating a massive magical barrier as two serpentine beings were wreathed in blinding light...

… She stood overlooking a crater before gingerly picking up a badly burned unicorn...

… A digital map lay before her, names flashed and turned from green to yellow, red, orange and black...

… The world lay before her and...

And...

And...

And...

'It burns... IT BURNS... IT BURNS...' Emerald thought in rising agony as the thread in her hands started to reach the end, the smoldering end of the line. The image of a light so blinding even she couldn't make it out clearly. 'Oh god it hurts! It hurts! Stop it! STOP IT!'

Suddenly there was a horrifying, ear splitting screech of rage. Emerald trembled as the threads all around her burst into flame. She was sent flying, tumbling through seas of flame and free floating pieces of threads turned to embers.

The last thing she saw was the ghosts of the old masters tumbling with her through the flames, their forms caught alight and bursting in explosions of light.

…

Emerald Gleaner sat up suddenly with a loud gasp from her position on the stone floor.

“My word, what happened?!” Gyatso exclaimed as he hurriedly patted her back.

“I... I-I don't k-know...” Emerald stuttered and briefly hyperventilated. She thought back and struggled to grasp memories of what she just experienced, thoughts and images crumbling in her own mind like a half burned building. “W-what did it l-look like on this s-side?”

“I was observing you all, awaiting your return,” Gyatso replied as he quickly attended to each grand master who were in worse states than Emerald, each one lying on the floor, faces twisted in pain and unresponsive but alive. “Suddenly you all screamed in pain as one and collapsed to the flo-”

Suddenly the sound of stone cracking filled the air. Gyatso and Emerald looked up to bear witness to the statues of the old masters cracking, their eyes briefly glowing before fading as the cracks grew in number. Within moments the cracks grew to such a level that each statue quickly started shattering and crumbling to pieces. Gyatso reacted quickly and formed a dome of air around the comatose Grand Masters as pieces of stone rained down around them.

It only lasted a few moments, but by the time it was over barely a dozen statues remained whole of out of the hundreds there were before.

“... Are you sure you can't recall anything?” Gyatso asked almost desperately in the heavy silence that followed. “Anything at all?!”

“I... I saw...” Emerald began, closing her eyes and placing her fingers to her temples as she struggled to recall some kind of detail. Barely anything remained now, but the image of the blinding light remained and now as she mentally examined this image she could make one a single detail. “I saw...”

“Fire.”

The legislative assembly building of Zebrica was a grand thing. Perhaps not as grand as the royal palaces of royalty, but the once respected Republic had known pride in their government. Now with the darkness in control of the land, the pride was replaced with fear. Even though no outward changes had been made to the structure, somehow it exuded an aura of fear for all that lived under its shadow.

The central and most important chamber of the building was, of course, the cavernous room where all the representatives of Zebrica had once gathered; where they had made decisions on the direction of their country and its laws. There were many bleachers of high quality and make surrounding a central area where once there had been a table and a few very comfortable lavish seats for the Prime Minister and his advisors. Now in its place, a great pedestal where a throne shrouded in fine curtains sat, the throne itself almost the size of a bed and easily allowed for the occupant to lounge on it like it was a couch.

Currently it was night and the room was faintly lit with balls of light purple flames, casting the room in unnerving shades of purple. A group of masked zebra bearing staves topped with green gems cared not for this, however.

A procession of six brainwashed zebra shamans entered the room followed by a cart covered in a white burial shroud that seemed to be pushing itself along. The shamans came to a stop before the throne and then took up positions facing the cart and waited. After a few moments the curtains shielding the throne from sight parted and a pair of green slitted eyes glinted in the darkness.

“Show me,” the figure in the shadows commanded.

Immediately the shroud pulled itself away from the cart, revealing the grizzly sight of a horrifically burned body. It was equine in shape but the damage was so severe that was the only thing that could be told. It was little more than a skeleton covered in charcoal and sitting atop of it was a polished black stone bearing the symbol of the Enclave, a body preserver.

The six shamans moved as one, leaning their staves forward until the green gems were over the body. Tendrils of green light snaked forth from the gems and descended to the body, wrapping and coiling about it. This continued for several long moments before one of the shamans broke the silence.

“This body holds no spiritual presence,” said one shaman in a complete monotone.

“Neither are there any residual memories,” added another.

“It is a fake, then.” With that there was a clack of hooves on stone and the figure descended from the throne.

It was a zebra of incredible size, easily rivaling Celestia in height. His black stripes were thick, so much so the white on his body were thin lines. His mane was a very tall black mohawk and his eyes were of an aquamarine green with even the whites of his eyes a lighter shade of green. He wore fine clothing, a velvet, dark crimson coat was worn over a gold silk shirt with a golden sash with white borders worn over both.

“Recount to me the details just before and after the fire,” the Prime Minister commanded.

“Reports say that a fog had blown in just before the fire,” one shaman recounted emotionlessly. “The guards outside the room started to try to break in the room as soon as the smoke was smelled. They were unable to break in until the fire had burned the body to its current state. Positioning of the body suggested a fall from the bed headfirst. Ten minutes after the fire had started, the fog had started to drift away.”

“A sudden fog preludes a fire that seemingly claims the life of one of my shamans and leaves soon after,” the Prime Minister wondered aloud. “I would have thought it a coincidence, had the body not turned out to be fake. Now what could explain this?”

For a few minutes the towering zebra paced in place, frowning deep in thought.

“A pegasus, perhaps?” the Prime Minister suggested to himself before shaking his head. “No, the fog would be too large for just one and multiple would have been fairly noticeable. A unicorn, a machine? No, neither of which can fly with the ease of a pegasus... which leaves an airship...”

“We have an enemy in our fair kingdom!” The Prime Minister announced grandly to his silent, still shamans.

“But what enemy could it be?” he continued, uncaring of the lack of reaction, before shaking his head sharply. “I can figure it out later. For now, all that matters is the fact foes are sneaking about freely. No choice then...”

The Prime Minister climbed the pedestal and back up onto his throne. He lounged in the darkness again with his eyes glinting.

“We shall hide our capabilities no more!” the Prime Minister announced hotly. “With the project under way, we can not afford for it to be tampered with. No longer is completion of the Resounding Dome within the next five years acceptable! It must be done NOW!!! Go forth and bare my command to the far corners of my forces! Do so with utmost care. Our hidden enemy must not realize the depths of their transgression!”

“THIS, I, NIGHTMARE NELMAN KING, COMMAND!”